Debate I Kerry on points; Putsch manages not to bite own ear
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
Zepp's Commentaries
September 30, 2004

"But I was curious as to who this enemy was. Was Putsch still trying to pretend that the Iraqi people loved the American occupiers, and that the disturbances in Iraq were just the result of outside agitators?"

Mr. Tall and Mr. Small
by Greg Palast
September 30, 2004

"You watch our President, the nervous hand-hiding, the compulsive water-glass-fondling, the panicked I-wish-I-had-a-whiskey look, and you think, 'My god, this is the guy who's supposed to save us from al Qaeda.'"

How Dare Kerry Speak Up
Editorial
LA Times
September 28, 2004

"The suggestion that terrorists support Sen. John F. Kerry for president is ugly, but basically silly. The suggestion that Kerry supports the terrorists is flat-out disgusting."

Incurious George Is A National Joke
by Les Payne
Newsday
September 26, 2004

"OK, how many out there feel that the sitting U.S. president is an embarrassment?"

Stubbornness isn't a virtue worth a vote
by Mitch Albom
Detroit Free Press
September 26, 2004

"President George W. Bush excels at being stubborn. Say what you will about the commander in chief: He doesn't change his mind. Not a day goes by that he doesn't tell voters 'a leader must be firm in his decisions.'"

Patsies Cheney/Putsch target voters who draw three to a flush
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
Zepp's Commentaries
September 25, 2004

"One of the few justifications left for invading Iraq is 'well, at least we got rid of that vile Saddam Hussein.' This doesn't explain why we replaced him with someone who may just be even more vile (and when it comes to ratbaggery, Allawi is right on a level with Uday and Ousay Hussein, only not dead)."

Twisting the Truth
E. J. Dionne
Washington Post
September 24, 2004

"There is one good thing about President Bush's new advertisement showing John Kerry windsurfing: Kerry does enjoy windsurfing."

Let's Get Real
by Paul Krugman
The New York Times
September 24, 2004

"Never mind the inevitable claims that John Kerry is soft on terrorism. What he must address is the question of how his policy in Iraq would differ from President Bush's. And his answer should be that unlike Mr. Bush, whose decisions have been dictated at every stage by grandiose visions and wishful thinking, he will get real - focusing on what is really possible in Iraq, and what needs to be done to protect American security."

More calm, less chaos? More troops
by Jay Bookman
Atlantic Journal-Constitution
September 23, 2004

"It is a tale of two cities, a tale of what might have been and what now may never be. It is the tale of a halfhearted gamble lost by swaggering, halfhearted men, and of two countries that will suffer the consequence of their callowness for decades."

Ethics and Journalism in America Fingers point at Dan Rather for being a better journalist than Fox
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
Zepp's Commentaries
September 22, 2004

"When 60 Minutes interviewed Bill Barnes, a retired Texas politician, I paid only scant attention to the memos Dan Rather said they had received that showed that Putsch was a screw-up who received preferential treatment and incurred the disdain of his superiors and fellow pilots as a result. It was, after all, no secret that he secured the position despite finishing 24th out of 25 for the one position open, and it was also no secret that he refused to take a mandatory physical and was dropped from flight status as a result, and a few months later, he vanished altogether as far as the Guard goes."

Finally, Kerry Takes a Stand
by David Brooks
The New York Times
September 21, 2004

"Yesterday John Kerry came to New York University and did something amazing. He uttered a series of clear, declarative sentences on the subject of Iraq. Many of these sentences directly contradict his past statements on Iraq, but at least you could figure out what he was trying to say."

What Is Bush Hiding?
by E. J. Dionne
Washington Post
September 21, 2004

"But what's good for Dan Rather, who is not running for president, ought to be good for George Bush, who is. 'There are a lot of questions and they need to be answered.' Surely that presidential sentiment applies as much to Bush's Guard service as to Rather's journalistic methods."

THE LYNCHING OF DAN RATHER On British TV, Dan feared the price of "asking questions"
by Greg Palast
September 21, 2004

"And there is a second document, from the files of US Justice Department, again confirming the story of the fix to keep George's white bottom out of Vietnam. That document, shown last year in the BBC television documentary,'Bush Family Fortunes,' correctly identifies Barnes as the bag man even before his 1999 confession."

HELP KERRY TO DEFINE HIMSELF BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE
by Paul E.
September 20, 2004

"If Mr. Kerry loses the election to Mr. Bush on November 2, simply because he failed to defend himself against the spurious allegations hung on him by the shameless and ruthless GOP right, I wonder what we will see when we then begin to look ahead, into the future of this nation?"

Reality Rewritten: More Bizarre Tales from our Mediocre Pundocracy
by Wayne Saunders (aka "punditman")
punditman.com
September 20, 2004

"While this is all old hat, what he fails to mention is that in their literature, PNAC also lists a series of ambitious and ominous schemes for US global domination, including targeting Iran and China for regime change, establishing total control of both outer space and cyberspace, and developing new and exotic biological weaponry."

Decline in Iraq, Decline in America Putsch beats a dead horse in the middle of the stream
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
Zepp's Commentaries
September 18, 2004

"It didn't come as any real surprise to read in the Guardian's Sunday edition (which in England is spelled "Observer") that the UK is planning to start pulling their troops out. One third of them over the next six weeks."

Don't be fooled by current lull in terror attacks
by LEONARD PITTS JR.
Miami Herald
September 17, 2004

"So here's my question. It has been three years since al Qaeda struck New York City. Before that, the last foreign terrorist attack on U.S. soil -- not counting a lone Palestinian gunman who killed a tourist at the Empire State Building -- was the one in 1993. If three years without an attack validates George W. Bush's policies, what do eight years without one do for Bill Clinton's? If a three-year respite makes Bush a hero, what does an eight-year respite do for his predecessor?"

Even a flawed Kerry beats the alternative
by Jay Bookman
Atlantic Journal-Constitution
September 16, 2004

"However, if Kerry is guilty of acquiescing to the worst American foreign-policy decision in the nation's history, his opponent is responsible for actually making that tragic decision. In an admittedly difficult first term, Bush has proved to be a man of limited insight and experience, shortcomings that make him easily manipulated by those around him."

Bush on the Couch What makes him feel safe doesn't work for the rest of us
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
Zepp's Commentaries
September 16, 2004

"Dr. Justin A. Frank doesn't waste any time demonstrating to the reader why his level of professional alarm over Bush's state of mind warranted the writing of the book."

Far Graver Than Vietnam
by Sidney Blumenthal
Guardian-UK
as appearing on rense.com
September 16, 2004

"Most senior US military officers now believe the war on Iraq has turned into a disaster on an unprecedented scale."

Report Shows Bush Neglecting Hunt for al Qaeda
from Daily Mislead
September 15, 2004

"The New York Times reports 'Three years after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon, the Central Intelligence Agency has fewer experienced case officers assigned to its headquarters unit dealing with Osama bin Laden than it did at the time of the attacks.' The bin Laden unit is 'stretched so thin that it relies on inexperienced officers rotated in and out every 60 to 90 days, and they leave before they know enough to be able to perform any meaningful work.'"

A Failed Presidency
Editorial - The Nation
Appearing on Common Dreams
September 13, 2004 edition

"As Republicans gather in New York City, the Bush campaign will undergo a drastic makeover, camouflaging gutter tactics with a veneer of moderation calculated to help the President win another four-year term. But the hard truth of this campaign is that George W. Bush, while attempting to impose an extremist right-wing agenda on this country and the world, has compiled a record of staggering failure."

Pyongyang Bang Can we rule out a Tunguska strike in Korea?
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
Zepp's Commentaries
September 12, 2004

"As most people know, North Korea secretly worked on a nuclear weapons program over the past twenty years, lying vociferously to the world that they were doing nothing of the sort. Given the general state of their economy, and their disdain for the educational systems of all other countries, nearly all of which are superior to NK's, this might not have mattered, were it not for the fact that Pakistan started making and selling "Build-ur-own-nukes" kits to any and all interested buyers."

Font wars hit prime time
by Jules Siegel
Newsroom-1
September 11, 2004

"To me, it's not all that bad, because I think that campaign ads are the distilled reflection of the candidates' personalities. The discussion brings this out even further. The real question under scrutiny is whom do you trust."

Bush's magic show makes only lives disappear
by LEONARD PITTS JR.
Miami Herald
September 10, 2004

"Iraq, as you know, is the front line in the War on Terrorism that began Sept. 11, 2001. Or, at least, that's what the president keeps stubbornly saying and polls indicate half of us keep stubbornly believing. And never mind that intelligence experts say Iraq had about as much to do with Sept. 11 as Canada did. No need to focus too closely on that."

SEPTEMBER 11: WHAT YOU "OUGHT NOT TO KNOW" DOCUMENT 199-I AND THE FBI'S WORDS TO CHILL THE SOUL
by Greg Palast
September 9, 2004

"On November 9, 2001, when you could still choke on the dust in the air near Ground Zero, BBC Television received a call in London from a top-level US intelligence agent. He was not happy. Shortly after George W. Bush took office, he told us reluctantly, the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the FBI, 'were told to back off the Saudis.'"

DON'T LOOK AT THE FLASH
by Greg Palast
September 8, 2004

"Not one single U.S. citizen hijacked a plane, yet President Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft, through powers seized and codified in the USA PATRIOT Act, fingered 270 million of us for surveillance, for searches, for tracking, for watching."

Hiding the bodies U.S. casualties have spiked in Iraq over the last three months
by Jeff Horwitz
Salon
September 8, 2004

"The steady rise in U.S. casualties can't be helpful to Bush's reelection campaign -- which continues to stick to its message that the overall situation in Iraq is improving -- and could have an impact on the homestretch of the election. To that end, Pike believes that Donald Rumsfeld's Department of Defense is being "economical with the truth" in order to downplay the increasing casualties."

Labor Pains Workers still losing ground
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
Zepp's Commentaries
September 6, 2004

"Putsch is trying to position himself as 'the jobs President.' What makes this particularly ludicrous is that he is about to become the first President since Hoover to see a net loss in jobs over a full term. One and a half million jobs, give or take."

A Letter to Senator Kerry
by Dave Crean
September 5, 2004

"Viewers good questions to Mr. Kerry."

Why We Fight: The inspiring lessons of Smearvets and Laura Bush
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
Zepp's Commentaries
September 5, 2004

"Almost lost among all that was a report from Iraq that 1,100 American troops were injured in Iraq during the month of August. The number surprised the guys at the Pentagon who track such things, because it was nearly double the second worst month during America's military adventure in Iraq, while the death toll - 60 - was only the third worst month. Usually the two maintain a similar ratio."

The Madness of Emperor George
by Butler Shaffer
appearing on Lew Rockwell
September 4, 2004

"Most Americans are probably uncomfortable with the thought that their president might suffer from madness. The mere contemplation of such a possibility simply does not compute within minds that have been conditioned to believe in the rationality of the political process which is supposed to filter out the unstable, the crazed fanatics, and those of 'extremist' dispositions. How could a man become and remain president if his thinking and actions were dominated by irrational impulses?"

A plea for national amnesia
by Derrick Z. Jackson
Boston Globe
September 3, 2004

"JUST WHEN you thought it was only Democrats who promised everything to everybody, President George W. Bush made his own promises and hoped Americans would have amnesia."

Fans fawn, but Bush fails as commander
by Jay Bookman
Atlantic Journal-Constitution
September 2, 2004

"The goal of this week's GOP convention is not merely to nominate George W. Bush for re-election as president of the United States. Its planners have a far greater ambition, seeking to install the president in the pantheon of great wartime leaders alongside historic figures such as Roosevelt, Lincoln and Churchill."

Bush Tried To Install Crony At FL Election Board
from Daily Mislead
September 2, 2004

"According to the Miami Daily Business Review, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) appointee at the Broward County Board of Elections hired a law firm headed by two close cronies of President Bush to fight any charges against it during the 2004 election."

It Takes Real Courage to Desert Your Post and Then Attack a Wounded Vet
by Michael Moore
michaelmoore.com
September 2, 2004

"Dear Bush letter."

President Declares "Ownership Society" Tells Convention He's Ordered Invasion of Social Security Trust Fund
by Greg Palast
September 2, 2004

"Of all the bone-headed, whacky, breathtakingly threatening schemes George W. Bush is trying to sell us in his acceptance speech tonight is something he and his handlers call, 'the Ownership Society.' Sounds cool, "ownership." Everyone gets a piece of the action. Everyone's a winner as the economy zooms. All boats rise."

Urgent Alert: 9/11 Our "New Pearl Harbor"? For War for Profit?
by Holly Berkowitz
September 1, 2004

"GW Bush exposed his real motives in the blueprint of Bush's CEO administration, the once-covert 2000 Project for a New American Century (PNAC) that claimed in September, 2000, a year before 9/11 that we needed a "new Pearl Harbor" for global military "supremacy" (PNAC, 2000). Supremacy? For profit? At all costs?"

The Case Against George W. Bush
by Ron Reagan
Esquire Magazine
September 2004 issue

"Politicians will stretch the truth. They'll exaggerate their accomplishments, paper over their gaffes. Spin has long been the lingua franca of the political realm. But George W. Bush and his administration have taken 'normal' mendacity to a startling new level far beyond lies of convenience. On top of the usual massaging of public perception, they traffic in big lies, indulge in any number of symptomatic small lies, and, ultimately, have come to embody dishonesty itself. They are a lie. And people, finally, have started catching on."

The Pentagon's Troubling Role
by The New York Times
August 31, 2004

"Barely two months before the presidential vote, Missouri's secretary of state has suddenly announced that he will allow military voters from his state - one of the most pivotal in the election - to e-mail ballots from combat zones to the Defense Department. E-mail is far too insecure to be used for voting."

Bush program is leaving country's children behind
by LU BATTAGLIERI
Detroit Free Press
August 30, 2004

"In addition to new seating charts and friends and teachers to meet, children in many schools will witness firsthand how hurtful the alleged No Child Left Behind Act is to education."

The public loses out as the administration expands secrecy
by U.S. SEN. PATRICK LEAHY
Detroit Free Press
August 30, 2004

"But the pendulum has swung so far away from openness in recent years that it is silently and steadily eroding the public's right to know. And when structural protections like FOIA are weakened, the erosion can be rapid, and lasting."

Compassionate...Liberals?
by David Pakman
heartheissues.com
August 30, 2004

"Every four years, the GOP placates their would-be constituents and the undecided swing voters by putting the most liberal members of their party in the public eye."

We Need to Take Better Care of Our Seniors
by Ralph E. Stanley
August 29, 2004

"Babyboomers are now over 55, for the most part and most were not very happy with Allen Greenspan's words last night about Social Security. And that's not all they are unhappy about. Most babyboomers have aging parents who take a lot of perscription drugs and expeience 25% increases on perscription drugs."

Terror and the City Part II: Bumbershoots and Krytonite, Oh my!
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
Zepp's Commentaries
August 29, 2004

"A lot of people hate the GOP, which is seen as cold, imperious, contemptuous of ordinary people, and out to steal the country. This may be because many people in the GOP, especially the leadership, are cold, imperious, contemptuous of ordinary people, and out to steal the country. Think of it as a character flaw."

Madame Butterfly Flies Off with Ballots Florida Fixed Again? Absentee Ballots Go Absent
by Greg Palast
August 29, 2004

"On Friday, Theresa LePore, Supervisor of Elections in Palm Beach, candidate for re-election as Supervisor of Elections, chose to supervise her own election, no one allowed. This Tuesday, Florida votes for these nominally non-partisan posts."

STILL UNREPORTED: THE PAY-OFF IN BUSH AIR GUARD FIX
by Greg Palast
August 28, 2004

"This week, former Lt. Governor Ben Barnes of Texas 'fessed up to pulling the strings to keep Little George out of the jungle. 'I got a young man named George W. Bush into the Texas Air Guard - and I'm ashamed.'"

Bush's Sleeper Cells
All it takes is a wink and a nod from the White House, and this network springs into action
by Eleanor Clift
Newsweek
August 27, 2004

"Karl Rove makes Chuck Colson look like a girly man. Colson didn't have the audacity to go after John Kerry's military record when President Nixon was looking for dirt on antiwar leaders."

Terror and the City: Why Victoria is better than Washington, DC
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
Zepp's Commentaries
August 27, 2004

"Quite a contrast, these two capitols. One, open, unafraid, and comfortable. The other, fearful, paranoid, and according to my friend, a very scary place to be these days."

Bush U-Turn On Climate Change Wins Few Friends
by Gary Younge
The Guardian - UK
appearing on rense.com
August 27, 2004

"In a dramatic reversal of its previous position, the White House this week conceded that emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases were the only likely explanation for global warming."

It's George's Turn: The media scrutinized John Kerry's military service yet hardly examined George Bush's military history
by Stewart Nusbaumer
Intervention Magazine
August 27, 2004

"For a month, John Kerry the Vietnam veteran has been raked over the political coals and fried on the talk shows. Under the cover of 'journalistic excellence'--which makes as much sense as 'military intelligence'--Kerry has been trashed and slammed, called a liar and a fake, and deemed undeserving of his combat medals."

Troops are easy mark
Blame for prisoner abuse has been misdirected; fault belongs to those at the top
by DAHLIA LITHWICK
Detroit Free Press
August 27, 2004

"This week's report by the James Schlesinger panel offers the closest thing we'll get to a smoking gun. Connect the dots and it's all there: The sadism at Abu Ghraib stemmed from 'confusion.' Confusion sounds accidental -- like it just blew in off the Atlantic -- but the report is clear this confusion resulted from systemic failures at the highest levels."

Swift-boat mess just a diversion from real issues
by LEONARD PITTS JR.
Miami Herald
August 27, 2004

"Having George W. Bush question your military record must feel not unlike having Anna Nicole Smith question your intelligence. Surely, there is a weightless moment of disbelief, a struggle with a level of gall that just does not compute."

We're Not in Lake Wobegon Anymore
by Garrison Keillor
In These Times
August 26, 2004

"In the years between Nixon and Newt Gingrich, the party migrated southward down the Twisting Trail of Rhetoric and sneered at the idea of public service and became the Scourge of Liberalism, the Great Crusade Against the Sixties, the Death Star of Government, a gang of pirates that diverted and fascinated the media by their sheer chutzpah, such as the misty-eyed flag-waving of Ronald Reagan who, while George McGovern flew bombers in World War II, took a pass and made training films in Long Beach."

Absolutism leaves W no wiggle room
by Brian Dickerson
Detroit Free Press
August 23, 2004

"Do honorable candidates for public office have a moral obligation to defend their opponents against soft-money slander, even if they are only innocent beneficiaries of someone else's lies?"

Why Kerry Is Right on Iraq
by Fareed Zakaria
Newsweek
August 23, 2004

"The more intelligent question is, given what we knew at the time, was toppling Saddam's regime a worthwhile objective? Bush's answer is yes, Howard Dean's is no. Kerry's answer is that it was a worthwhile objective but was disastrously executed. For this 'nuance' Kerry has been attacked from both the right and the left. But it happens to be the most defensible position on the subject."

Is the Swift boat hoax backfire beginning?
by Jules Siegel
August 21, 2004

"As more evidence pours in that the Swift boats attack ad is a hoax, the damage has yet to be determined. Now that Kerry's fighting back, the stunt could blow up in the Republicans' faces."

Letter to Some U.S. Senators and House Members
from Burt Hall
August 20, 2004

"President Bush is vulnerable on a host of issues. But, he has managed somehow to escape responsibility through various means. There is one issue, however, where Bush cannot possibly escape responsibility, if only you will pursue the matter to its ultimate conclusion."